Chapter 369: The Relationship Between the Mangekyo Sharingan and the Rinnegan
In the dimly lit room, Shiori stood calmly in place, strictly following Kenichi's instructions as he had him perform one movement after another and shift through different postures.
"Now take the tank with Hidan's head out of the lab," Kenichi said, giving a new instruction.
Shiori did not hesitate. He extended both hands, and a moment later, an entire glass tank was pulled out.
Inside it floated Hidan's head, his eyes staring lifelessly ahead.
Kenichi glanced at him. In a way, Hidan was truly unlucky. Immortality might have been an incredible gift for someone else, but in the hands of Orochimaru and Kenichi, it only meant endless torment.
His teacher had kept him sealed away in a dark laboratory for a long time already. Now Hidan looked half broken, like a dazed fool. At the very least, Kenichi could not see the slightest emotional fluctuation on his face, and even his pupils were somewhat unfocused.
Shiori, meanwhile, remained perfectly calm from beginning to end. He did not ask why Hidan's head was constantly submerged in water. Instead, he obediently stepped up to Kenichi, opened his eyes wide, and waited for the next round of examination.
"First, put that tank back into the specialized darkroom," Kenichi reminded him.
Hidan's head had been taken out partly because it needed to be preserved, and partly because Kenichi wanted to use this chance to test Shiori's abilities. Now that it was out, it obviously could not just be left lying around. The best solution was to put it back into the darkroom immediately and restore the original environment. It would also make things more convenient for Orochimaru's experimental records.
While Shiori moved Hidan's head away, Kenichi began jotting down his observations in the experimental log.
[The fourth experiment has begun. Shiori's Mangekyo Sharingan showed an increase in chakra density, consistent with the results of the second and third experiments.]
Kenichi skillfully observed Shiori's eyes, recorded the information he saw, then thoughtfully flipped through the notes in his hand.
This was already the fourth experiment he had conducted on Shiori recently.
The process itself was simple. Shiori only needed to activate her Mangekyo ability and use it to pull objects in from outside. Afterward, Kenichi would use his own Mangekyo's analytical ability to examine the eye in detail.
And in that process, Kenichi had discovered one very distinct trait.
"In the second, third, and now even the fourth experiment, nothing else changed much, but this chakra keeps growing denser. Could the key really be here?" Kenichi muttered as he thought.
The more the Mangekyo's abilities were used, the worse the eyes became, until blindness eventually set in. But after seeing Shiori's condition repeatedly, Kenichi felt the answer might really lie with that unique chakra inside the Mangekyo itself.
Every time the dojutsu was used, that chakra thickened slightly.
The more the eye was used, the more this chakra continued to accumulate and thicken, until in the end it might completely occupy the eye itself. If that happened, blindness would not be strange at all.
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
"So the saying that the Mangekyo grows stronger the more it is used might actually be true. In that case... what is the relationship between the Mangekyo and the Rinnegan?" Kenichi narrowed his eyes slightly.
The Mangekyo Sharingan only contained one type of chakra, but the Rinnegan's chakra seemed to encompass almost every basic chakra nature.
Could it be that the path from Mangekyo to Rinnegan was to gather all chakra natures into the eye itself?
But if that were true, then how exactly was one supposed to make an eye contain every chakra nature? That was a completely different problem, and so far, Kenichi had no clue.
Still, compared to before, he now understood the Mangekyo Sharingan far better.
The only regret was that he had no Eternal Mangekyo specimen to study. If he did, perhaps he could also figure out why the Eternal Mangekyo truly became "eternal."
"Still, using only Shiori as a sample may lead to problems caused by individual variation. It looks like I'll have to find Shisui at some point too and examine his eyes..." Kenichi paused.
Then he remembered something.
Right. This was the Land of Snow, but there was still another Uchiha here.
Hikari.
Thinking of that, Kenichi let Shiori go back to what he had been doing and hurried out to find Hikari, only to discover her fishing with Naruto.
"So this is what you call ice fishing?" Kenichi asked curiously as he walked over and looked around.
The Land of Snow had plenty of ice and snow, but the stream in front of Naruto was still flowing, so this clearly was not ice fishing.
"Hm? Brother Amamiya, we're just fishing," Hikari said happily the moment she heard his voice. She immediately bounced to her feet and proudly shook the fish basket in her hand. Several slender fish were wriggling inside.
Kenichi raised a brow.
That was his oversight.
He had forgotten that the Land of Snow possessed a special treasure capable of warming the area around the capital, though it did not extend to the entire country. If it had, then the Land of Snow might already have become a truly habitable land.
He had once considered finding Amado and having him create more such devices to turn the whole country into a livable place. But after thinking it through, he had given up.
Altering the climate of such a large region was no small matter. It would inevitably have a tremendous impact on nature. The Land of Snow's harsh environment was the product of the entire surrounding ecosystem. If the whole country suddenly warmed, the shift in air currents and regional balance would cause consequences no one could predict.
So Kenichi abandoned that idea.
A former coworker from his previous life, one who handled computer security maintenance, had once said something memorable.
If there is a bug in the computer, but it does not affect normal operation, never fix it casually. The moment you touch it, you may create even more bugs.
"Koyuki told us the fish in this stream are delicious," Naruto said from the side.
Kenichi smiled faintly.
Naruto really did seem to be in better spirits now. At least he looked far more lively than he had after first learning the truth about his parents.
"This is..." Kenichi picked up the fish basket and took a closer look. The fish inside looked somewhat like saury, but each one had two long lines running from head to tail, one gold and one silver, making them look unusually beautiful.
Then, suddenly, a long stream of information flooded into his mind.
Kenichi froze.
Had his Mangekyo activated on its own?
The next second, one of the fish in the basket abruptly broke apart into fragments and was swept away by the current.
Kenichi rubbed his nose awkwardly.
He definitely had not activated his ability on purpose.
Could it be that the more the Mangekyo was used, the more instinctive its responses became? Still, what was strange was that he felt no discomfort at all after the eye activated this time.
Fortunately, Naruto had not noticed what happened.
Hikari, however, stared at him in surprise. She had clearly seen the Mangekyo appear in his eyes. When it was activated, its pattern was far too obvious to miss.
"Brother Amamiya... are you from the Uchiha clan too?" Hikari blinked in confusion. For a moment, she even began doubting whether his real surname was Amamiya at all. Could he also be one of the Uchiha?
"No," Kenichi replied without hesitation.
When he transmigrated, he had arrived as an infant. His previous body had almost been reduced to a baby-like state when he crossed over. But even so, he had still had parents in this world, though both had died in the war. Neither of them had the Uchiha surname.
"Huh? But Brother Amamiya, your eyes..." Hikari looked even more flustered, clearly wanting to ask more, yet not knowing how to phrase it.
"That's different," Kenichi said with a smile. "I already know how to create eyes like these."
Hikari blinked blankly, clearly not fully understanding what that meant.
At that moment, Naruto suddenly let out a sharp cry.
"Teacher, your eyes...!"
Kenichi turned to look at him curiously. Naruto had seen members of the Uchiha clan before, so perhaps he recognized what those eyes meant?
Then Naruto's eyes practically lit up.
"So cool!"
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
Interesting. He had thought Naruto would be startled by the sudden change, but he had not expected the little brat's first reaction to be that they looked cool.
Still, Kenichi had to admit it.
They did look pretty cool.
Looking at Naruto, whose eyes were practically sparkling with admiration, a bizarre idea suddenly surfaced in Kenichi's mind.
What if he gave Naruto a pair of Sharingan and then helped him awaken the Mangekyo?
What would Naruto become then?
And if, in the future, Kenichi truly mastered the method to awaken the Rinnegan, he could even evolve Naruto's eyes into the Rinnegan as well.
How strong would Naruto become at that point?
The thought alone made Kenichi's interest surge.
He truly wanted to try it.
Unfortunately, Naruto was still too young. He would not be able to bear the burden of those eyes yet.
It seemed that experiment would have to wait.
"Naruto, do you want eyes like these?" Kenichi asked with a grin.
He did not notice the slight horror that flashed across Hikari's face the moment he said it.
Hikari knew very well what the Uchiha clan had once done in order to obtain new Mangekyo Sharingan.
Could it be that Brother Amamiya...
No.
A gentle Brother Amamiya would never do something like that.
Hikari quickly shook her head. She did not know what other methods might exist to obtain such eyes, but she trusted Kenichi. So she chose to believe him.
Naruto, meanwhile, nodded eagerly, then immediately shook his head.
"Yeah, they're really cool. But would it hurt a lot? I don't want to use someone else's eyes."
Kenichi's mouth twitched again.
What exactly was this brat imagining?
He was not Danzo Shimura. Why would he dig out other people's eyes just because he wanted to?
"You don't need to do that," Kenichi said, shaking his head. "I'd only need to give you an injection."
He truly had no interest in transplanting other people's eyes anymore. At this point, he was even considering whether he should return Kakashi's Sharingan.
If he were not worried that doing so would push Obito into total desperation, he might have already done it.
Of course, Kenichi had no intention of treating Kakashi unfairly. The next time they met, he would probably just give Kakashi a fresh pair of Mangekyo directly.
As for what abilities Kakashi would awaken with them, Kenichi had no idea. But a pair of Mangekyo that Kakashi could activate and deactivate freely would certainly make it easier for him to become the Sixth Hokage.
No... in the future, there probably would not even be a Hokage position anymore.
If the ninja world truly unified, then what would Kakashi be suited for?
An intelligence department?
Then again, if the whole world unified, there might not even be much need for intelligence agents either.
So what would suit Kakashi then?
Perhaps inheriting Jiraiya's legacy and becoming a shameless novelist.
Thinking about it that way, it actually did not seem impossible.
"Don't worry. This technique doesn't require using someone else's eyes," Kenichi explained, noticing that Hikari's stiff expression had finally started to ease. "It would let your own eyes gradually evolve into something like this. Naruto, they're very powerful."
He had to explain it clearly.
Hikari had been mistreated badly by her clansmen in the past. It was entirely possible that she knew about the bloody methods once used to exchange Mangekyo eyes. If he did not make things clear, she would definitely misunderstand, and then he would have to waste time explaining later anyway.
"Then can I become like Teacher too?" Naruto asked curiously.
He was still too young to understand much else. He had not even noticed that Hikari's expression had visibly relaxed. All he knew was that these eyes looked unbelievably cool.
"Of course you can," Kenichi said with a smile as he rubbed Naruto's fluffy blond hair. "But you're still too young right now. We'll talk about it again after you're older."
As he rubbed Naruto's head, a cold and ominous aura suddenly flickered past him.
Kenichi narrowed his eyes at once.
That had to be the Nine Tails' chakra.
It was exactly as he had imagined. The feeling it gave off was dark and deeply unpleasant, almost like staring straight at a wicked creature. The moment one sensed it, the instinctive reaction was revulsion.
Kenichi's gaze dropped toward Naruto's stomach.
The seal was still perfect. There should not be any problem there.
The Fourth Hokage's sealing skill had truly been thorough beyond measure.
"But it looks like I should also put breaking the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on the agenda..." Kenichi murmured as he stroked his chin.
He was suddenly very curious.
If Minato learned what kind of life his son had been living, what exactly would he do?
Moreover, it might even be possible to revive both Minato and Kushina directly and give Naruto the childhood he should have had in the first place.
After all, using Edo Tensei for that would not be the first time Kenichi had done something outrageous.
.....
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